Former presidential aide Laolu Akande has outlined what he believes President Bola Ahmed Tinubu could have done differently before departing for his state visit to the United Kingdom, saying the president had the option of stopping in Maiduguri to address the security situation in Borno State but chose not to take it. Akande made the remarks during an appearance on Channels Television on Thursday, laying out specific alternatives that he said were available to the president amid growing public criticism over the timing of the trip.
Akande acknowledged that the UK visit carries diplomatic weight and that cancelling or rescheduling a meeting with King Charles and Prime Minister Keir Starmer would not have been a simple decision. He accepted that the trip was likely to generate significant global attention for Nigeria and that there were legitimate reasons for it to go ahead. But he argued that proceeding with the visit did not have to mean ignoring what was happening at home, and that the president had room to do both.
The former aide laid out two clear alternatives. The first was a physical stop in Maiduguri before heading to London. Akande suggested that the president’s schedule could have been adjusted to allow a morning visit to the affected region before departing for the UK later in the day. The second was a direct public address to the people of Borno, a recorded or broadcast message in which the president could have expressed solidarity, shared in the pain of the affected communities, and offered reassurance that the situation was being handled.
Akande was measured but firm in making his point, and his words left no ambiguity about where he stands.
“The president could say, OK, yeah, we’re going to London at 3 o’clock. Let’s get out by 9 AM so that I could go to Maiduguri and I can fly from Maiduguri to London. He had that option. It wasn’t taken,” Akande said.
On the second alternative, he was equally direct. “The president at the very minimum could have said, you know what, I’m going to have to talk to the people of Borno. I’m going to have to reassure them. I want them to hear my voice. I want them to see me speaking to them, sharing their pain and offering some reassurance. The president did not do that,” he added.
The criticism comes at a sensitive moment. Borno State has endured years of insurgency, displacement, and loss, and any fresh attack in the region reopens wounds that have never fully healed. For residents of the northeast, the sight of their president attending diplomatic functions abroad while their communities face violence sends a painful message, regardless of the strategic importance of the visit. Akande’s comments give voice to a frustration that many Nigerians have expressed but few people close to political power have been willing to articulate this clearly.
What makes Akande’s intervention notable is that it does not come from a place of outright opposition. He was careful to acknowledge the value of the UK visit and did not call for it to be cancelled. His argument was not that the president was wrong to go, but that he failed to demonstrate that the people suffering at home were equally on his mind. It is a criticism rooted in expectations of leadership, not partisan attack, and that is precisely what gives it weight….See More
Source: Channels Television.
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